20 minutes of Garbage Time

Price chased

Jussi Jokinene and Sisney Crosby – on exquisite power-play passing – also scored for the home team.

Price surrendered five goals on 21 shots.

Pittsburgh had a 14-7 shot advantage.

Bourque bounces back

Exiled to the pressbox for a game, Rene Bourque played a strong first period and tapped home a Daniel Briere pass to reduce the Penguins' lead to one goal.

Bourque's first road POINT of the season required a video review.

Jussi Jokinen had opened the scoring after Evgeni Malkin skated past Andrei Markov and set up his linemate for an easy one.

The Penguins made it 2-0 when Taylor Pyatt, parked on the lip on Carey Price's crease, redirected a power-play point shot by Matt Niskanen.

Shots were 9-7 for the home team.

The Canadiens will begin the second period on a power play.

Angry Penguins

Sounds like a disaster movie, set in Antarctica.

This one, however, will unfold at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, where the Penguin's are still smarting from a 5-1 thumping at the unlikely hands of Florida Monday night.

The loss snapped a franchise-record home-ice winning streak that had hit 13 games before the Panthers hit town.

Sidney Crosby and friends will be looking to revive their winning ways against a Canadiens team that is playing .500 hockey and is tied, at 59 points, with the surging Leafs, who won their sixth straight in Colorado Tuesday night.

Two first-round draft choices – Louis Leblanc (18th overall in 2009) and Nathan Beaulieu (17th in 2011) – are expected to be in the Canadiens' lineup. Alexei Emelin and Raphael Diaz are healthy scratches.

There’s a small part of me that wants our boys to get blown out tonight like 12-0 so that MT’s nonsense gets exposed for what it is. I swear the job application for Head Coach of the Montreal Canadiens includes this question:

Do you often make inexplicably stupid coaching decisions yet still somehow manage to keep a respectable winning record?

All things point to an absolute trouncing tonight so that likely means they’ll pick up a W. After all, it’s not like they’re playing the Islanders or the Oilers.

Know the feeling RE: Leaf Fans chirping. My wife and I had the pleasure of watching the game from a bar on Bloor ST. in Toronto on Saturday. Hoping for a big win tonight and another on Friday since we will be at the Detroit game.

I wish it was Kilgour’s. We didn’t arrive to Kilgour’s until 6:00PM and they said they had been full since 4:30PM that afternoon. He was kind enough to suggest a bar right across the street called The Pump. It was about a 50/50 split MTL/TOR fans. Nice crowd though, just the usual ribbing and the bar tender was great, so not too much to complain about.

On the previous thread there was some talk that Habs might acquire E.Kane from Winnipeg, what would we give up?
Yeah he’s a great player but where does he fit in in our lineup?

Bergevin should trade Gionta to the Devils for Jagr,
I think both are UFA’s at seasons end, Gionta would play with his brother and return to his former team. Jagr would get to play with Pleky and possibly resign a 1 year deal for 2014-2015

Second, yeah, it’s warm and fuzzy that Gio would go back to where he had his Cup success etc. and play with little Stephen but Uncle Lou ain’t the sentimental type and he ain’t stupid (the Kovalchuk fiasco notwithstanding and I think that was ownership pulling those strings).

And third, Gio just isn’t that good anymore so he’d be a 3rd liner depth guy anywhere he goes (think Peca in Edm)
_______________________________________
Jack Edwards is a clam.
Gary Bettman is a bobblehead.
The “CH” in CHOKE stands for Toronto Maple Leafs.

17 that is just all wrong!
Pateryn is not a strong skater, is a rookie and Emelin ain’t that much better.
You’d never put Beaulieu and Subban together on the blue line ’cause they’d never be there( at least in their own zone )
Markov with Diaz ? Diaz is not physical enough to supplement Markov and isn’t confident in his own end. This would place much too much pressure on Markov.
IMO Diaz is toast anyway

Remember when Pittsburgh first came into the league and they had that bowling pin shaped penguin wearing a scarf on their jerseys? It was nothing like the top heavy penguin on serious steroids look that replaced it. What kind of a message is that for the kids? The last change for the CH logo was in 1956. If it ain’t broke…

Weren’t those made of kangaroo skin, some kind of a gimmick brought in after Charlie Finley (of the Oakland Athletics fame) bought the team? Perhaps those skates contributed to them finishing dead last and turning the draft pick they traded to Montreal into Guy Lafleur?

Anyone know what the Habs record is when sitting more than two nights. My feel is that it is not very good. However, regardless of the coach, the team should be up for this one. If it isn’t watch for the death spiral before the Olympics.

Lineup needed a little shake up, possibly light a fire under Diaz & Emelin who have played poorly recently, but hope a trade is in the works for a 20-30 goal scoring winger and a solid 4th-5th defenceman.

I think Diaz will be moved after the Olympic break.
Funny how the article on the Canadiens app is STILL the featured story on the news section. Maybe waiting for more exposure?

As much as I b*tched about PK’s benching etc, the coach has a mandate and it’s his right to do what he thinks is best. Whether I want him fired or not is irrelevant. Basically, there’s sh*t all I can do

He has been skating on his own since Jan. 8th but isn’t expected to be cleared for contact until around Feb. 7th. The Habs play their last game before the break on Feb. 8th. Perhaps he will be able to take some practice and a conditioning stint with Hamilton during the Olympics and be ready for NHL duty when they return to action Feb. 26th vs Detroit?

It’s too confusing Luke.
I’m getting old.
I need something simple, like gassist.
Where a player does all the work, and someone else pots it.
And he should get an extra point for it. Maybe that will entice everysome of the NHL players (hello Bork) to actually try.

Emelin is struggling … no question; and in my humble opinion deserves to ride the bench for a game (or perhaps more.) But it is curious that MT has chosen this game … against the best team in the East no less … to bench two top 5 defensemen. He is either much, much smarter than I am; or much much dumber.

A win on the road tonight guarantees the Habs a winning record vs Pittsburgh this season. Crosby was a -3 in his last game for the first and worst time this season. He was also held to just 1 shot for only the 8th time this season. I hope he is off again tonight along with the rest of the Penguins.

I’m not sure that Roy could do much with the Habs, either. There just aren’t enough natural scorers on this team. Colorado’s future is a heck of a lot brighter than Montreal’s, and Roy probably made the best choice in taking that job.